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Cliff Richard wants to top the American charts

Cliff Richard has had 14 UK number one hit singles, aside from hits in Europe and Asia, but the 73-year-old singer hasn’t stopped wanting to be big in the US.

"There's a part of me that says: 'how did I miss this?' - even though I had seven or eight top 20 hits, and nine top 40 hits, I'm still an unknown quantity here (America)," Cliff told ITV's Good Morning Britain.

"It's still feasible that at my age I could find a niche in America. Not only I'm I still alive, I can still do it."

Richard has sold 250 million records worldwide, but another unfulfilled ambition is a collaboration with One Direction. That band has enjoyed three number one albums in America, so conceivably with the right tune, he might just do it in a duet with the younger guns.

He recently gave the punters a free solo show at Gramercy Theatre in New York, after his double bill with Morrissey was cancelled due to the latter’s illness.

"I was dejected when they rang me 10 days ago to tell me it was off. I was really down for a couple of days because I had looked forward to it so much. And the fans had too. And then I started reading about the fans being disappointed and I thought, 'wait a minute, we're all disappointed. Let's get together and be disappointed together. And get over it together.'"